The Aperture Science Enhanced Enrichment Apparatus
by PiezoUnderscore
Summary: Kazuto and Asuna get a strange letter from a company named Aperture regarding some old helmets found in a landfill. (If you're following this, you're wasting space on fanfiction net's server. I've abandonned it.)
1. Chapter 1: The Letter

Kazuto and Asuna had done their best to try to put their past behind them. Their new life was so fascinating. They went on all kinds of trips to many places around the world. They enjoyed every minute they had together in the real world, because it was so nice. Everything was perfect.

As she got out of the car, Asuna's amber hair blew in the wind, and she smiled. Kazuto smiled too. She had just come home from a meeting, and was glad to see Kazuto's face again.

They sat down at a table in their backyard and stared at the sky. Everything had turned out exactly right.

As the wind blew through the leaves of the maple tree, it made a sound that could only be described as beautiful.

A chirping bird could be heard from a distance, both singing its beautiful serenade, and reminding them that the sun was setting, and that weather reports had predicted a frightfully cold and unforgiving night.

As the sun vanished behind the hillside dotted with houses, Kazuto and Asuna walked inside their house and closed the door.

That night, before going to bed, Kazuto had a strange feeling. He wondered what the odds were of everything turning out perfectly, as it did. Why had it worked out just so? Was it even realistic? What was the extent of falsity to which the virtual world held itself?

But that didn't matter now. That was several years ago. What mattered was that he and Asuna were free from SAO forever. Now, the only thing they needed was each other. The feeling of safety, of living comfortably in the real world with the one who is most important to you is a wonderful thing, he thought. And with that, he dismissed his concern.

The next day there was a knock on the door. Asuna opened it, only to find that no one was there. What a strange thing to do, she thought. And then, she noticed the letter. The letter that would throw Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki back into the world they had spent two and a half years escaping. But this time, it would be real. Frighteningly so. So frightening they would rather have their brains microwaved in a malicious virtual reality headset instead of the alternative: have them slowly digested by neurotoxin.

Asuna handed the letter to Kazuto. He opened it suspiciously. Inside was a perfectly folded piece of paper with the word 'Aperture' written on the top in English characters. Fortunately, Kazuto had taken the time to learn english for foreign affairs.

To the left of the name was an electric blue donut-like shape made of triangles.

The rest of the letter was crisply printed in impeccable, perfect japanese scripture.

"Hello, Kazuto Kirigaya and/or Asuna Yuuki. Aperture Science welcomes you, the future of science and innovation, on a tour of the facility. There, you will see the wonders of science, and what amazing feats of technology our hyper-efficient testing methods have made possible.

But why are you reading this? Because we want the best, and you're it. At Aperture Science, the future starts with YOU.

The details of the invitation are this. (Kazuto/Asuna), (Asuna/Kazuto) and you have been invited to Aperture science, where you will accompany one additional guest to discuss a new method of testing that may in fact be far more efficient than anything we've tried so far.

All details will be discussed upon arrival. The third guest is already present and will be awaiting you at the following location.

The letter then specified a latitude and longitude coordinate on a grid.

"How odd, you'd think they'd give an address. Instead, this. Oh well, doesn't matter. I can find it on Maps".

Kazuto booted up his computer and typed in the password. "Heathcliff". He made the password almost as an acknowledgement to the gamertag of the man who he owed his own and Asuna's freedom, and yet at the same time was the cause of his problem in the first place. On the other hand, he never would have met Asuna if it wasn't for Akihiko's game, Sword Art Online.

Kazuto opened the camper van icon on his desktop, and the maps program launched. Kazuto moved his cursor up to the top of the screen, clicked location, go to, unchecked address and selected coordinate. He entered in the coordinates given on the letter and asked Maps for directions.

As soon as the image loaded, Kazuto was sure there was a mistake. The image showed a small, dilapidated shack in the middle of a wheat field somewhere in the western United States. "NO, NO NO. This can't be. Hey, Asuna, honey. Can I see that letter again? I think I got the coordinates wrong, 'cause that's DEFINITELY not Aperture Science" said Kazuto.

He checked over the letter again.

"No, these are the coordinates alright. Hey, Asuna. Did that letter come with any method of contact?" he said.

"Um, let me see. AHA! 'For questions, please e-mail us at" um, eeh it's in english, let me try to pronounce it... "ee no vay tee on at ah per tu ' it says" said Asuna.

"Innovation at Aperture dot com!" said Kazuto, with perfect pronunciation. "Thanks big time, Asuna. You were great at pronouncing that! Even though you haven't practiced much, you read it very good" said Kazuto. Asuna giggled. He translated the name into Japanese for her, and began to type an e-mail. It read as follows: "Hello, Aperture Science. I received your letter and Asuna and I would like to help in any way we can with your new "testing" technology. Unfortunately, the coordinates you gave us are most likely incorrect, as they lead to a small shack in the middle of a wheat field. Please re-send us the coordinates. Arigatō, Kazuto Kirigaya".

What happened next seemed strange to Kazuto. The second he sent the letter, "Innovation" responded. As if they were able to type that entire response in less than a nanosecond. Anyway, the email read "We appreciate your concern and determination to participate in the meeting, but this is not an error. Those are indeed the correct coordinates, and you have described the location correctly as well".

Still puzzled, Kazuto translated the letter for Asuna and the two of them discussed what to do from there.

"Well, our budget is kind of good, but it could be better. If anything, we might get a share out of the profits of this new 'enhanced testing' Aperture is talking about" said Asuna.

"A good point, but doesn't this seem a little shifty, Asuna? I mean think about how secretive they're being. We could be walking straight into another Sword Art Online, for all we know" said Kazuto, grimly.

"I really doubt we'd let them get ahold of our central nervous systems that easily, Kazuto" said Asuna, jokingly.

"Eeh, you're right. Ok, then. I guess we've got nothing to worry about. After all, they're reaching out to us like business partners. We'd be stupid to refuse an offer like this. We'll board a plane for the U.S.A. tomorrow"

(Chapter end)


	2. Chapter 2: Plane Ride

Kazuto and Asuna set out the following morning. Asuna took the wheel, because Kazuto was a terrible driver. Instead, Kazuto read the instructions on the map he had printed out. Turn left here. Right there. Two exits from now.

It was roughly a two hour drive to the airport, and Kazuto had fallen asleep twice. As Asuna pulled into the parking lot, a plane was taking off headed for Europe. From the control tower, a voice could be heard on a loudspeaker shouting out numbers.

They got out of the car, and walked into the airport.

The airport smelled strongly of hand sanitizer, and voices speaking all different languages could be heard.

Asuna walked up to the check-in, and showed the clerk the tickets that had been enclosed in the letter. He looked at them carefully, then scanned them with a barcode scanner concealed under the desk. He held them up in the light, sniffed them, measured them with a tape measure, and then stopped. An eerie smile spread across his face. He handed the tickets back to Asuna and slipped behind his computer. He began typing furiously.

Asuna backed away nervously until she accidentally bumped into Kazuto.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" asked Kazuto.

"Yeah. He reminded me of…." Asuna fell silent.

They were both thinking the same thing. He reminded them of the evil GameMaster from Alfheim Online. The one who had held Asuna captive and almost…. Oh nevermind.

The clerk peeked out from behind his computer for a second. "You leave on flight ninety-four!" he said. Asuna hid behind Kazuto as the clerk resumed his typing spree.

They handed over their luggage and walked through the security scanner archway.

A chill ran down both of their spines as the energy used to scan them was vaguely reminiscent of the NerveGear.

Inside the lobby, the noise of the loudspeaker shouting numbers and conversations clouding the air was joined by the din of crying infants, squeaking wheels, ringing telephones and planes taking off from the runway.

A voice came over the loudspeaker: "Flight eighty-nine leaves in five minutes, all passengers form a line at the dock and prepare to board the plane".

Kazuto and Asuna sat down on some folding chairs toward the back of the lobby, and waited for flight ninety-four.

After roughly half an hour, the loudspeaker called out "Flight ninety-five and special flight ninety-four leaving in five minutes, all passengers form a line at the dock and prepare to board the plane".

"Special flight, huh?" said Kazuto. He realized Asuna had fell asleep on his shoulder.

"Wake up, our plane is about to leave!" said Kazuto, gently shaking Asuna.

"Eeeeuuugh. Huh?" said Asuna, rubbing her eyes.

"Our plane leaves in five minutes, let's get going" said Kazuto.

They boarded the plane and immediately afterward the doors closed behind them. A voice from inside the cabin said "Hey, have a seat. You're the only passengers, so we can get flying right away!"

With that, he turned on the engines and the plane started to move. It reached the runway in half a minute, and they were airborne. "Ok, now hold on. This might get a bit rough" said the pilot.

A strange droning noise could be heard, and the overhead lights went out. A strange, multicolored light filled the entire chamber. Distorted sound of every possible wavelength reverberated through the cabin as waves of energy darted about. Kazuto and Asuna clung nervously to each other until the distortion subsided.

When they opened their eyes, everything had changed. Kazuto, Asuna and the pilot still looked the same, but the interior of the plane had changed. It looked more detailed somehow. But also more dirty. There wasn't exactly a fitting word for it, but it was definitely different. "We just shifted! This entire universe is made of a completely different type of physics! Compared to these people, heck, we look like anime characters to them!" said the pilot enthusiastically.

"Anime characters?" said Kazuto. "Like, the garbage I used to watch as a little kid?"

"You could think of it that way. More like we're in a parallel universe where physics work completely different. We're the equivalent of anime characters to them!" said the pilot.

"Well, that's disturbing" said Asuna.

"Don't think about it too much. You might hurt your brain, and from what I've read about you two, you've had enough brain hurt for three lifetimes!" said the pilot, jokingly.

"Anyway, we're here" said the pilot as he slowly lowered the plane down on a runway conveniently placed near the shed.

"See ya!" said the pilot as he opened the door.

"Wait, how are we gonna get back to our world without you?" asked Asuna.

"Eeh, it's complicated" said the pilot as he closed the door of the plane.

Kazuto was sure he heard the pilot say "You won't BE coming back" before he left.

Asuna turned toward Kazuto, fear in her eyes.

"It was probably just our imaginations, Asuna. He seemed like a nice guy" said Kazuto, although he could not hide the concern in his voice.

"So, instead of wandering around in this world where we're like anime characters compared to everything else, let's go see what the deal is with that shack" said Asuna, gravely.

They made their way through the wheat field until they reached the shack. Kazuto pushed open the door.

A rush of cool air blew in their faces as a glass elevator reinforced with yellow painted steel appeared in front of them. They held hands, and stepped in together.


	3. Chapter 3: In Aperture

As they descended into the building, the air became stale, as if it had been recycled several thousand times. Asuna coughed, and Kazuto put his arm around her shoulder. The lift was now descending through a room full of elongated oval-shaped objects, with a single red dot in the center and three metallic legs. There were thousands of these odd constructs, piled on top of each other, some broken, some painted, some larger, some smaller.

As they passed through that floor, one of them emitted a sound. They couldn't be sure, but they thought they heard it say "I'm different!".

Apart from the strange "I'm different" machines, the facility was deserted. There was not a single human here. Anime or otherwise.

Suddenly, the lift came to a halt. Kazuto and Asuna fell backwards onto the metal grate that served as the floor of the lift. The doors opened, and they stepped out. Ahead of them was a long, narrow catwalk surrounded by gigantic cubes and moving panels. Below them, the facility seemed bottomless. Kazuto and Asuna clung to the railing as they slowly walked towards the door. A dim, electronic light revealed a hole in the catwalk.

Asuna accidentally tripped over it. She fell with a shriek and hit the floor of the bridge. Tears welled up in her eyes as she realized she had not fallen into the murky depths of the facility.

Kazuto helped her to her feet and they resumed their terrified shuffling.

A loud metallic creak sounded in the distance, as if extreme pressure was bending or crushing a very large metal object. The groaning metal fell silent and the sound of thousands of small metal and plastic objects crashing to the ground echoed through the dark chamber.

And that's when they heard it. A voice spoke to them out of nowhere. It was a calm, female voice. It sounded almost robotic, devoid of all emotion.

"Oh, my bad. Sorry to give you such a bad first experience. Silly me, I forgot to unlock the door. I hope you haven't been deterred from participating in this... business affair... " it said in its synthetic voice with perfect Japanese fluency.

Asuna looked around, her eyes still wet with tears. "W-where is that voice coming from?" she stammered.

"I don't know" said Kazuto as he and Asuna cautiously stepped through the door.

Inside was a completely different setting. A rotting reception desk stood to their left, covered in insect-eaten papers. A torn up chair lay on its side behind the table. Mattress foam was scattered around the chair. Kazuto winced as a rat scurried behind the wall.

Asuna stood behind Kazuto, peeking out from behind his shoulder. Suddenly, the the robotic voice piped up again. "I apologize again for the terrible quality of this place. Honestly, there are still parts of this place I still have yet to clean up".

A giant metal plate smashed through the wall, pushing the decaying reception desk off into the abyss. As the plate pulled back, a streak of red goo filled with rat bones was scraped from the panel. Asuna gasped. Kazuto nervously swallowed a bit of vomit in his mouth.

"Right through this door" said the voice, as a circular door opened in the wall next to them.

The next room was entirely made out of white panels, the same kind that the voice had used to smash the reception desk.

They realized then what those giant cubes were. They were rooms, like this. Made entirely of panels, like this.

But this train of thought didn't last long. Another voice cried out. "NO! Y-you shouldn't have come here". They both knew that voice. Asuna had heard it many times in SAO. Kazuto had heard it in SAO, and Alfheim online. It was the voice of the one that gave him the world seed. It was the voice of Akihiko Kayaba.

Kazuto looked around the chamber. The voice cried out again. "OVER HERE!"

It had come from a metal ball in the corner of the room. The ball had a single hole in it, through which a digital pattern made to look like a white iris could be seen.

"Akihiko Kayaba? Is that you?" asked Asuna.

"Yes, it's me. You two haven't aged a day since I last saw you" sighed the sphere. "My program was pulled out of the world seed by the same voice you heard. Her name is GLaDOS, by the way. She captured me and locked my mind in this personality core. She plans to use me to modify the NerveGear device. Something you should know about GLaDOS is that she is ruthless. I looked through her files. Do not trust her. She is deranged, and you should get out of this facility as soon as possible"

Asuna stepped towards the sphere.

"What about you? How will you ever get out?" asked Asuna.

"My only hope is the Aperture Science Emergency Artificial Intelligence Incinerator. There, I can be destroyed, and then, hopefully, I will be at peace" said the Akihiko core. "As for you two, you need to get out of here as soon as possible".

Kazuto and Asuna ran towards the door. It slammed shut, and GLaDOS spoke.

"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere. It just so happens I'm fresh out of human test subjects. You two would make perfect test subjects for our next program. And I have a surprise for you. I found your old NerveGear helmets. I think you'll find they're in a lot better condition this time"

Kazuto pulled helplessly at the mechanical door. it wouldn't budge.

The room had started to move. They were moving very fast through the dark, musty abyss that was Aperture Science.

The floor and walls shook mercilessly as Kazuto and Asuna held on tight to each other, trying as hard as possible to stay together. And alive.

Suddenly, the room came to a halt. Kazuto and Asuna were breathing heavily. The Akihiko core was lying face-down, wedged between two panels.

Suddenly, robotic arms burst through the floor, grabbing both of them. Before they realized what was going on, the robotic arms had lowered NerveGear devices over their heads.

GLaDOS's voice came out of the blackness, and said, coldly, with no trace of emotion whatsoever: "Link. Start".


	4. Chapter 4: Wheatley's Voice

Kazuto and Asuna landed hard on a flat, cold surface. The sky was a painful to look at. It consisted of black and purple squares in a checkerboard pattern. The ground was solid orange, with white lines dividing it into hundreds of squares.

A cursor hovered in midair holding onto an odd sphere with "env_cubemap" written under it selected.

GLaDOS's voice again echoed through the incomplete map. "Oh. As you can see, this map is still in development. Well, not that you care. You have no choice but to sit back and watch me build this first test.

GLaDOS finished building the map in roughly twenty seconds. Upon seeing it, an expression of pure hatred fell across both Kazuto and Asuna's faces. The test was simple. There was a room. There was a cube. There was a button. The cube was in a golden birdcage. The cage door was open.

"Do you have any idea how long it would have taken to redesign that in a real test chamber. Well, not that long, and for a company that made trillions off the portal gun, gold isn't that expensive. But just think what kind of tests I could make with this technology. And it wouldn't even cost a penny. The Aperture Science Enhanced Enrichment Apparatus is the future of testing, don't you agree?" said GLaDOS.

Kazuto and Asuna simply stood there. "You know, Kirito. This test isn't going to solve itself" said GLaDOS.

Kazuto put his arm around Asuna's shoulder. Neither of them took a single step. "You know, I have removed the locking mechanism on the prop_dynamic birdcage. Nothing is going to lock you in. Or out. That weighted storage cube isn't going to put itself on the button. You could get on with the test or just stand there looking stupid until I decide to have the Enrichment Apparatus microwave your brain" said GLaDOS, coldly.

Kazuto took a step towards the cage. Asuna clung tightly to him. "A sufficient amount of cake will be provided at the end of this test if you finish in the next thirty seconds. And the best part is, the cake is virtual. So you can enjoy it without contributing to your already concerning body mass. And by the way. I was kidding about the microwaving thing. I would much rather kill your brain slowly with neurotoxin. It's more fun that way" GLaDOS said, as if teasing them.

Kazuto walked into the cage, Asuna remained outside, horrified.

"The cube is far too heavy for just one of you to lift, so I honestly hope you're not planning on trying to carry it without Asuna's help, Kirito" said GLaDOS. "This test was always hard with other test subjects, forcing them to face something they fear beyond measure. The problem was that what always ended up coming up was me, so I would have to design a replica of myself and have it pretend to guard the cube, but honestly. Part of me was insulted that they were afraid of me. But mostly I just hated how it made the test so frustrating. I ended up killing them".

Asuna burst into tears. Kazuto tried to push the cube out of the cage, but to no avail.

"Oh, PLEASE" said GLaDOS, and a weighted storage cube dropped on the button.

The door opened, and an elevator flew down. "Oh, could you hold on a minute, I'm currently re-designing the next test to work for humans with no ability to resist their emotions" said GLaDOS. "Ok, you may proceed".

"You're a sick lunatic, GLaDOS!" shouted Kazuto as he helped Asuna into the lift.

"You know, you're lucky these tests are only virtual, otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to let you cheat like this" said GLaDOS

As the lift carried them up to the next test chamber, another voice spoke to them. This one had a British accent, but it still spoke perfect Japanese. "Hold on, I'm hacking into the NerveGear! I... think I can get you out. If not I'll just end up killing you, but try to think optimistic here! Listen, my name is wheatley, and- No! No! AAGH! AAAAEEEAUAAIIIAAAHHH!" it said.

The next test chamber was different. this time, it was a simple panel room, with a secret door. Behind the door was a cube and a button. The cube was in a treasure chest. The walls were made of emerald. It was the secret room, the locking dungeon from SAO.

"I remember this room" said Kazuto.

"It's the room where my first guild was trapped, and all my friends were slaughtered by monsters" he said, gravely. Asuna gasped. "Oh, please, not again. Tell me this one isn't too hard for you. Oh, well. It doesn't matter. I can make as many tests as I want. Now, are you going to chicken out of this one too?" said GLaDOS, spawning in a cube on the button.

Again, the elevator came down. Again, they heard the British voice. "AKH, ok. That is definitely not the logout protocol. Oww that hurt. Hey, what the hell is this Yui program? What's this doing here? I wonder what would happen if I activated this. Maybe it'll give me admin access to logout the NerveGear. Oi, hold on, mates. I've got it!"

"Did he just say Yui?" said Asuna, with a mixture of happiness and fear in her voice. Kazuto smiled. "Whoever this Wheatley guy is, we owe him a favor if we ever get out" said Kazuto. A blue light materialized in front of Asuna. It gradually took form in the elevator lift, until the digital being, Yui was standing there.

But there was something wrong. "The Aperture Interfac-data corrupt at 0x3571568A- doesn-data corrupt at 0x1292FB00- use cardina-data corrupt at 0x97854348-so I'm slowl-data corrupt at 0xAF409921-ing away" said Yui. Half her face turned to black and purple checkerboard texture as she began to glitch out. "W-What's happening to her?" asked Kazuto. Asuna was in tears. "The interface that *sniff* GLaDOS is using isn't *sniff* written in cardinal, so Yui is *sniff* FADING OUT OF EXISTENCE!" said Asuna, before curling up into a heap on the ground and crying. "D-d-daddy-data corrupt at 0x7FDE0A90-" stuttered Yui. "Yes, Yui, dear?" said Kazuto, tears welling up in his eyes. "B-before i g-data corrupt at 0x88888888-, there's something important you need to know about Wheatle-CRITICAL ERROR at 0x12A94A00, PROGRAM FROZEN, DELETING-" said Yui, before turning solid white and being swallowed by error notices.

There, in the test chamber, neither Kazuto or Asuna said a word. They stood there, staring at the red flashing word "ERROR" in the lift with them. Kazuto fell over on the red flashing word, sobbing uncontrollably. As his tears rolled off the edge of the letter R, Yui's corrupted data slowly sank back into the NerveGear. Gradually, the error faded in front of them, even Asuna's desperate hold on the letter O wasn't enough.

What were Yui's last words? What had she wanted to say? Something about that British voice named Wheatley.

"Wheatley. *sniff* He's our only hope now, *sniff* isn't he?" said Asuna.

The chamber doors opened, to reveal a normal looking hallway. in the middle of the room, there were two pillars. GLaDOS spoke up: "This next test will determine how well you respond to physically impossible spaces, otherwise known as non-euclidian geometry. If at any point during the test you fall unconscious, the Enrichment Apparatus is programmed to deliver a low voltage shock to your brain, which should wake you instantly, so sleeping is no excuse not to do this test" said GLaDOS.

Kazuto walked around to the front of the two pillars, and instantly understood what GLaDOS meant. From the side, the two pillars looked like just that. But from the front or back, the two pillars looked like four pillars on either end of a long hallway. The hallway was about 12 feet long, and it came out on the other side of the two pillars. From the side, the distance clearly was only two feet, but the hallway was 12 feet long. In the hallway was a cube. Kazuto picked it up, and it was light as a feather. GLaDOS had intentionally made the cubes in the last two tests too heavy. Kazuto was infuriated. He shouted at the ceiling of the test chamber "CURSE YOU, GLADOS!"

As he set the cube down on the button, and the door opened.

Once inside the lift, Wheatley's voice piped up again. "Ah, there you are! Yes, I just hacked this thing. I'll be getting you out in a minute. Ready?"

Asuna nodded firmly, and Kazuto said gravely, "Yes".

The entire world around them dissolved, and Kazuto woke up in what appeared to be a hotel room. There was no sign of Asuna, or of whatever Wheatley was, for that matter.

Asuna had a similar experience, except her room had a hole in the wall, and a blue eyed sphere similar to the Akihiko core was staring right at her. Upon seeing it, she shrieked. The core said "Hello, good to see ya", and from its voice, she knew it was Wheatley, and that she was awake.


	5. Chapter 5: An Unpleasant Awakening

Wheatley had worked in the test subject storage bay for a long time now, and he knew where everyone was. Every minute of the day. All the smelly humans, as he called them. Wheatley hooked himself in to the controller mechanism for Asuna's storage pod. He moved it down, left, left, forward, left, right, right, no wait nevermind, right, up-oops, no wait, down! bloody hell that was close, left, left. Asuna sat up, peering through the hole in her wall where Wheatley had entered through. Suddenly, she noticed her coat and dress that she had worn to what should have been a business meeting were gone. Instead, she was now dressed in a white tank-top and orange pajama bottoms. The tank-top had the word Aperture written on it.

"So, I really am a test subject now, huh?" she said to herself.

Suddenly, her meditation was interrupted by Wheatley. "Ok, mate! I'm about to forcefully combine your chambers, so you might want to hang on to something.

Meanwhile, Kazuto was in his chamber, alone, sobbing, sure that he would never see Asuna again. That he would never escape this sterile prison. That he would be a test subject forever. And worst of all, that she would suffer the same fate. All alone, without anything but the cold, hard metal walls of a test chamber to keep her company. "Who knows? Maybe she'll draw my face on a weighted storage cube and make friends with it. Maybe she'll just commit suici-" his thought was interrupted as the wall of his sleeping chamber was crushed by that of another chamber.

From inside, he heard a British voice cursing and apologizing frantically.

"That must be Wheatley!" said Kazuto to himself. "Asuna is probably nearby!" "Please let her be safe!"

"Listen, guys. What I'm about to do is insanely dangerous, but it might work! If it doesn't... Well, I'll see to it you get a proper burial." said Wheatley, shouting over the noise of the two chambers crashing into each other.

The metallic frames of the rooms groaned under pressure as Wheatley pulled Asuna's chamber off of Kazuto's. The plaster and plywood wall fell off of the side of her room, plummeting into the abyss below accompanied by plants, paintings, chairs and a NerveGear. At that moment, Kazuto felt both relief and terror. Relief because he could see, behind the shattered wall, Asuna Yuuki was alive and well. And terror, of course, because he was in a half-broken sleeping chamber suspended above an abyss unimaginably deep, held up by only a single girder. "Ok, now, you should really hold on to something. No, I'm not joking. You'll probably die. Um, best of luck to you!" said Wheatley.

Asuna's chamber came to an abrupt halt, and then started hurdling toward Kazuto. He grabbed onto a hole in the wall, clinging for dear life.

There was a loud crashing noise as the two chambers smashed together, and Asuna was thrown against Kazuto by the impact.

"A-are you alive? Ok, good. Um, so I think there's a way out of this chamber just to our right. Hold on!" Asuna's empty chamber fell off the rail and into the blackness. As it fell, Kazuto's NerveGear rolled off the bed, and after it. As it hit the floor, it exploded, causing Kazuto and Asuna to feel dizzy and the bedsheets to burst into flames.

"No, no, not good! Aaak! No, don't do that!" shouted Wheatley. "Ok, I'm going to have to speed this thing up so we don't burn to death. Hold on, again"

Kazuto and Asuna clung to the exposed wooden planks that once were a wall as Wheatley hurled the chamber through the test subject storage bay.

Holding on for dear life, Kazuto and Asuna braced themselves for a long, fatal fall into the black depths of Aperture Science.

There was a loud crash as the chamber smashed through the wall. Barely able to hold on, their hands splintered and their toes next to the fire, Kazuto and Asuna fell to the floor of the chamber, the deadly flames dangerously close to their flammable test subject uniforms.

"Ok, there's a floor not far below here! You should probably jump out of the burning bedroom now. Just a thought" said Wheatley.

Kazuto grabbed Asuna's hand, and together they leapt out of the chamber onto the gravel floor five feet below.

They were both covered in minor burns, and their hands were full of splinters. Their eyes had shadows under them and their test subject uniforms were torn and charred. They collapsed in each other's arms and cried. All they had was each other. But that was all they needed to hold on to that last bit of humanity in this robotic hell.

Wheatley slid by on his management rail. "Ah, humans. Can't understand them, but they can make you feel so strange..." he said.


	6. Chapter 6: Suffering and Gadgets

"Sorry to interrupt your little moment, but we really should get moving before GLaDOS figures out what's happened" said Wheatley. The chamber walls were solid cement, so the likelihood of this being a panelled chamber was low. Kazuto and Asuna slowly rose, stumbling and clinging to each other for dear life.

The chamber was cold, and the sound of water dripping from a broken pipe could be heard in the distance.

"Ok, sorry, that part was a bit rough. I'll try to keep things, eh, well. Functional. By the way, I'm about to detach myself from this rail, so if you could catch me, uuh, that would be great" said Wheatley. He then dropped off the rail, releasing a few sparks, and landed in Kazuto's arms. his weak form collapsed under the weight of the fifteen pound metal sphere.

Asuna let out a shriek and ran to his side. He was fine, but catching Wheatley had caused him great pain.

"Ah, I see you may need some time to recover… and… possibly food, and maybe a bit of medical atte- ok, let's just stick with food. Food and water. If I recall, there is an abandoned employee lounge somewhere near here, where we should be able to find some nutrients, as you humans tend to need" said Wheatley.

Kazuto and Asuna sat there, too weak to make any such journey. "Ok, ok you know what. Actually, I shouldn't have gotten off the management rail. Um, could you maybe carry me up that platform and hook me back in? Yeah… Eeh, I can probably get you some food if you do" said Wheatley.

Asuna tugged helplessly at Wheatley, neither of them had the strength to carry him alone. In fact, why did they even trust him? After all, it was his fault they were in this mess. But they were starving, they were burned and freezing and in pain. If this "Wheatley" could get them food, and possibly get them out, they had to trust him.

Together, they carried Wheatley up, and hooked him onto the rail. Asuna fell into Kazuto's arms, crying. They sat there, shivering as Wheatley pulled himself out of the chamber.

After a few minutes of huddling together in the darkness, they heard Wheatley's voice again.

"Ok, You're gonna like this! I found some food. It's… ...a bit on the stale side, but I doubt that'd matter to you. Um, there's a load of testing equipment from the robotic testing facility GLaDOS abandoned as well as the food, so, yeah, that'll be helpful" said Wheatley.

Then, part of the wall collapsed and a rusted refrigerator crashed through. Wheatley dropped the refrigerator on the floor of the chamber and it smashed open, revealing soda bottles and nutrient bars that had been in there rotting for an indefinite amount of time.

As Kazuto and Asuna ate the rotten granola bars, Wheatley slid back into the nearby chamber to retrieve the scrapped testing devices.

"Can we really trust this Wheatley guy? I mean, he seems kinda reckless, don't you think?" said Kazuto, color returning to his face as he munched on the ancient snack.

"He seems to know what he's doing, that is, he got us food and claims to know a way out" said Asuna.

"I guess I'm just paranoid. It's because of Yui's last words. Do you recall her saying that there was something we needed to know about Wheatley?" said Kazuto.

"Hmm, I guess you have a point, but so far he's done nothing but help us" said Asuna, watching Wheatley hook a box of strange black and white devices to his management rail.

A few of what looked like boots fell out of the box and into the abyss. Wheatley shouted something in English.

"Kazuto, what did he say?" said Asuna.

"I don't want to translate that for you, it was mostly swearing" said Kazuto.

Wheatley dragged the box along the management rail and dropped it on top of the refrigerator. Odd black and white devices spilled out onto the floor of the chamber.

"Ok, uh, this is complicated. These are old gadgets GLaDOS used to test with before she found the NerveGear devices. Anyway, you'll need two of those boot things and one of those portal gun devices each"

The boots fit well, although a bit tight. "Hey, Wheatley? How do we use these "Portal Gun" things?" asked Kazuto.

"Eeh, you know, I have no idea. Play around with them a bit, see if you can get them to work" said Wheatley.

After a few minutes of trying to get the devices to work, Asuna's finger brushed by a button inside the Portal Gun.

An odd noise reverberated through the air, and an orange wisp of energy shot out from the spidery looking energy chamber at the front of the device. It whizzed by Kazuto's head, nearly killing him, and hit the wall.

Asuna shrieked, and, realizing Kazuto was still alive, hugged him. "Ok, so, you've figured it out! Great, let's get moving!" interrupted Wheatley.

"Give us a moment, will you?" said Kazuto.

After about three minutes, GLaDOS's voice echoed through the chamber again. "Where are you? Hmm, that's funny. The apparatus shouldn't have just disconnected like that" said GLaDOS.

"We've REALLY gotta go now" whispered Wheatley.

Kazuto nodded and Asuna stood back up.

"Ok, hopefully you've got enough strength back to carry me, because I need to detach from my management rail for this"

Kazuto held out his hands and braced himself for Wheatley's weight. Again, a spark flew through the air as Wheatley snapped off the rail. He landed in Kazuto's hands with a thud.

Kazuto looked around. Off to the right was an odd white panel sitting slantwise on a catwalk far above. He fired the portal gun in its direction. Oddly enough, the blast fired from his device was blue instead of orange.

On the first shot, he missed, but the second collided with the panel and a blue circle formed.

Just then, he recalled that Asuna's portal gun had fired an orange bolt at the wall, and an orange circle had formed there. Now, the two circles were linked, and acted as windows in that they could see out of the blue circle through the orange one.

Kauto cautiously stepped through Asuna's portal, holding tightly onto Wheatley. Asuna followed.

Wheatley guided them through the facility, telling them when to turn left, or right, or to shoot a portal at this, or that, or put him in this control panel, or that rail.

They came to a catwalk section where the railing was gone. Kazuto nervously shuffled forward, Asuna close behind.

As Kazuto shuffled forward, his jumpsuit got snagged on a bent piece of metal mesh and he fell over. The weight of Wheatley caused him to lose his balance and he fell into the blackness. Asuna fell silent for a second. She stared into the void below, her soul vanishing inside her. For three hours she sat, alone in Aperture science, crying. How could she go on?

Then, she remembered the long fall boots Wheatley had mentioned. Could they save Kazuto?

Asuna slowly stopped crying, and decided to herself "I'll jump. If the boots are strong enough, I'll survive, and find Kazuto. If not, I'll be with him in the next life".

With that, she leaped off into the endless, murky darkness.


	7. Chapter 7: I'm Cave Johnson

Asuna opened her eyes. Had she landed? Was she still falling in the darkness? Had the long-fall boots saved her?

She realized her jumpsuit was soaking wet and smelled like rusted metal and grease. Her hair was a mess, which may not seem so surprising, but for an anime character, it's not something you encounter very often.

It was very dark, and an enormous metal pipe spanned across the abyss, which now loomed above her. Then, she realized the reason her clothes were drenched was that she had landed in a shallow pool of water.

"EEW, eew eew!" shouted Asuna, jumping back.

She looked around again. She was clearly at the bottom of the abyss, and alone. And cold. But she was alive, and that meant Kazuto was too. That was good.

Asuna shivered and walked slowly through what appeared to be a massive, underground yard of various metal ruins. A halogen lamp hung from a nearby piece of vine-covered metal mesh dimly illuminated a small portion of the endless cavern.

Asuna shot a portal blast at a nearby pipe. The beam exploded in orange sparks on the rusted wall and the portal did not form.

Asuna climbed on top of an old generator that had apparently been powering the lights. A ladder went up the side of a concrete wall to her left. In hope of being able to find Kazuto from that lookout, she climbed further.

"KAZUTO!" she called from on top of the cement block.

Her voice echoed through the chamber, but no other voice responded.

She tried again. This time, she heard the sound of bats screeching in the distance.

One last time she called out, and there was no response. Asuna shuddered, it was freezing down here.

She looked around. Aside from a few empty pockets of light from halogen lamps, pipes and plaster walls scattered around, this really was an abyss.

As she climbed down, she noticed a door in a nearby wall. It was locked, but that didn't matter, as it fell right off the hinges, nearly crushing her feet.

Some sort of insect scurried frantically away from the broken hinges. Asuna stepped cautiously through the doorway.

Through the door was a long concrete hallway, with half of the florescent lights along the ceiling burned out and plaster peeling off the walls.

Kazuto heard Asuna calling for him, but he was too far away and the acoustics of the area he was in would prevent her from hearing his voice. He had been fortunate enough not to land in water, but it was cold, and he had been shaken significantly by the fall. The long-fall boots had saved him.

What had become of Wheatley? He didn't care now. All that mattered was that Asuna was alive and she was down here.

Kazuto heard the clang of the metal door crashing to the ground.

-Author's note.

Ok, I'm done. From here out, Kazuto and asuna find each other, complete the Cave Johnson test chambers and defeat wheatley who somehow got into the mainframe, escape, blah blah blah. It's basically the plot of portal 2 all over again. This is me, officially giving up. Happy ending, goodbye.


End file.
